Union clout is nothing to discredit

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In his Dec. 9 op-ed “The 1 percenters in Mass.? The unions,” Charles Chieppo wrote about how unions have been the biggest campaign contributors in Massachusetts elections, and call organized labor the “ultimate 1 Percenter and the rest of us Occupiers.” As a proud member of a firefighters union, I can agree that unions and labor laws are far from perfect. But I was shocked to see Chieppo refer to himself in essence as a 99 percenter.

Chieppo is quick to discredit unions for their vast wealth and political power, but he fails to mention that in this ugly world of politics money is essential to winning elections. He also fails to mention that, while unions may have great wealth, this is hardly the case for many union workers.

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